Automatic water-valve.



, E E. STEVENSON. AuToMAnc WATER VALVE. APPUCATION HLED MAR.27. 191T.

Patentd Aug. 21, 1917.

EDWARD STEVENSON, -01

ZIBAERQOI VENICE, CALIFORNIA.

VENICE, CALI FORNIA,'ASSIGNORJLOFJONE-HALF TO L. G.

AUTOMATIC WATER-VALVE.

"Specification of Applicatiofiflledllarch.27,

To all whom'it'cmay concern:

Be it known that I, ,EDWARDYTE. STEVEN- SON, a citizen of the United stategresiding at Venice, 5 State of California,

in the county of .Los Angeles,

have invented new. and

useful Improvements in Automatic Water- Valves, of which cation.

the following-is a 'specifipoultry,

mals, the'mam; object maximum quantity rabbits, .dogs;

or other small ani- Y of which is to keep a of water in atrough,

and," when that certainmaximumnainount of cut on automatiwa r isin the trOugh, to

y, the supply of water. This application is in part a continuation of my -appl1- cation S. 'N. 92,417, In its essentials,

valve orifice,

against said-orifice, one end of a lever, lever holding weight of wateriin' the 'water= trough,.' the of which counter balances sthe pressure of water at the orifice.

the trough acts as a balfiled April 20th, 1916. my device includes a a washer'pivotally movable said'washer'imounted on and the other end of said weight Inxmy invention the ance against the water pressure; thus, when the quantity of water in ithe trough .18 not of such-weight as to close the valve, water will drip until such sure and'this-a'ction through the valve into weight balances the water pres- *the trough the'valve.

Tcloses A feature of mydevice 1s ithat inrpractice a balance is maintained so that" the "water inte -the trough, when the .devlce never 111118 is in use, but drips ltherein, t a slow rate until the maximum tained in the "trough; this, that to suit difierent pressures,

40 notches in the end trough, so

quantity of water is. at-

another feature is I cut of: the arm. holding the that thevtrough"may be placed in such a notch'so that itsweightxbalances the pressure of water "when a certain predetermined maximum "quantity of water has run into thetrough. 'T-hereare various' other features explained fication.

In the drawings referred specific "which drawings; Fi

n*1:the following speci- I :have shown in detail a :g form of my invention, in

gure .1 is a 'viewshowing member '13 which 7 rests the manner shown in 1917. *serial No. 157,649. 'my valve attached to'an ordinary pipe connection and holding a troughthereomFig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the valve proper and Fig. 3 is anlend view thereof.

In the drawings the numeral 10 designates generally my automatic water valve fitting which-may be attached to any :pipe or other connection. 11 in the manner shown. The valve fitting consists mainly of a body having r a screw: threaded connectionlfi for connection to a water pipe, a screen '17 rest- 'ing at theaseat. of he. screw threaded-connection to' prevent dirt, etc., from vaccumulating in the orifice 118. A rubber, cork, leather or othenwasher valve 19 is snugly set in aperture 19* in one end of' the lever by pin 25-so as toswing thereon; The outer 'end of the lever 15' vhas notches 15 which are adapted to-hold wire bail 14 supporting trough 12. Ball l liis attached to one end ofthe troughll2, the 'otherend-standing on on theground, in Fig. 1. Itwill be 'notedthat the fulcrum pin 25, notches 15 and upper surface ofrwasheril9 are all approximately in thesame plane so that the "washer is maintainediinrproper engagement with theaseat.

.As shown particularly in Fig. 2, Imake the valve end of he lever 15 with a. pref? erably acorn shaped. downward projection as shown at.21, and also-an upward projec- "-tionr 21 extending "up into the collar to 'carry the 'valve'wvasher; and around this upper projection and the washer19 I place 61131120. formed "on the body 26 of the valve fitting. This collar surrounds the orifice l8 and projects downwardly to prevent thewater: from sprayi g horizontally away from the trough, confining it to run down on the projection21, and the projection 21 is made of such configuration so as to concentrate the'drip or run of water at its lowest. point. "This-"insures the water alwayssdropping into the trough, no matter 'how slowly the water runs-or. drips and reardless' of :the wind," which would tend to vblow the water away 'if'it were 'in a fine spray. The lever 15. has a notch or .downwhich lever is pivoted to valve body 26 water pressure forces the ward offset at 15 allowing the collar 20 to be continuous and to completely encircle the washer and to thus wholly concentrate the water upon the projection 21.

In operation the main supply of water to the valve fitting 10 may be left open (the pipe 11 may have a hand valve if desired) when a maximum amount of water is in the trough 12, a sufiicient weight is imposed upon the outer end of the lever 15 to seat the valve washer l9 firmly against the opening 18 and thus cut off the supply of water; but, when the water in the trough evaporates, or is used for drinking purposes, and the weight of the trough decreases, then the water to seep the opening 18, over valve washer 19 and over acorn shaped end 21 into the trough. In practice, the opposing forces nearly balance one another; if the water slowly evaporates, or is regularly used, the water will keep dripping slowing and regularly from the valve.

he amount and weight of water in the trough, which is counter-balanced against the pressure of water, may be changed with relation to the pressure of the water against the opening, by placing the trough bail either nearer to or farther from the valve and changing the wire bail in the notches, which, of course, gives a different leverage and a change of pressure on the washer.

My device has proven'simple and eificient for the purpose set forth, needing no attention and always acting uniformly. To the features that make this simplicity and efliciency I direct the following claims.

Having described a preferred form of my invention, I claim:

1. In a device of the character described, a supply pipe, a cut off valve fitting connected to said supply pipe comprising a body with an outlet and with a fulcrum, a lever pivoted on the fulcrum, one end of said lever holding a washer normally pressing up against said outlet, a collar made integrally with the body of the valve fitting through and completely surrounding the said washer and-extending downwardly from said valve fitting; an acorn shaped projection extending downwardly on the lever below the washer and under and within the collar, and a water receptacle connected to the other end of said lever.

2. In a device of the character pp y p p nected body-with a fulcrum and outlet, a lever pivoted on said fulcrum, one end of said lever holding a valve washer normally pressing up against said outlet, a collar made integrally with the body of the valve fitting and surrounding the said washer and extending downwardly from said valve fitting; the other end of the leshaped projection below the the water receplet, a lever pivoted on said fulcrum, one end,

of said lever holding a valve washer normally pressing up against said outlet, a collar made washer and extending downwardly from said valve fitting; the lever having a downward offset to accommodate the collar and having an end part extending up into the space within the collar to carry the washer; the other end of the lever having spaced notches, a water receptacle, and means for hanging the water receptacle at one of said notches.

4. In a device of the character described, a supply ipe, a cut off valve fitting connect ed to sai supply pipe comprising a body with a fulcrum and with a downward outlet, a lever pivoted on said fulcrum, one end of said lever holding a valve washer normally pressing up against said outlet, a collar made integrally with the body of the valve fitting and surrounding the said washer and extending downwardly from said valve fitting; the lever having a downward offset to accommodate the collar and having an end part extending up into the space within the collar to carry the washer; the other end of the lever having spaced notches, a water receptacle, and means for hanging the water receptacle at any one of said notches; the washer, the lever pivot and the lever notches being all approximately in the same plane.

5. In a'device of the character described, a supply pipe, a cut ofl valve fitting connected to said supply pipe comprising a body with a fulcrum and with a downward outlet, a lever pivoted on said fulcrum, one end normally pressing up against said outlet, a collar made integrally with the body of the valve fitting and completely surrounding the said date the collar and having an end portion extending up within the collar to carry the washer and having a downward acorn washer to concentrate the drip of water therefrom under the collar; and the-other end of the lever having spaced notches-for adjustably suspending a water receptacle below the collar and the acorn shaped projection, the washer, the lever pivot and the notches being all approximately in the same plane.

6. In a device of the character described,

of said lever holdinga valve washer downwardly around the outlet and surrounding the valve to'concentrate the Water flowing out of the outlet over the valve.

In witness that 1 claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my name this 20th day of March, 1917. a.

- E. E. STEVENSON. 

